James Lillywhite led the England team which sailed on the
P&O steamship Poonah on 21 September 1876. They would play a
combined Australian XI, for once on even terms of 11 a side. The match,
starting on 15 March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground came to be
regarded as the first Test match. The combined Australian XI won this
Test match by 45 runs with Charles Bannerman of Australia scoring the
first Test century. At the time this match carried little significance
and was classed as another tour match and was labelled as the James
Lillywhite's XI v South Australia and New South Wales. The first Test
match on English soil occurred in 1880 with England winning this series
1–0. The series was also the first for England to field a fully
representative side with W.G. Grace being present in the team.

The Ashes:

England would lose their first home series 1–0 in 1882 with
The Sporting Times famously printing an obituary on English cricket:

“ In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died
at the Oval on 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of
sorrowing friends and acquaintances R.I.P. N.B. - The body will be
cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.”

As a result of this loss the tour of 1882–83 was dubbed by
England captain Ivo Bligh as "the quest to regain the ashes". England
with a mixture of amateurs and professionals won the series 2–1. Bligh
was presented with an urn that contained some ashes, which have
variously been said to be of a bail, ball or even a woman's veil and so
The Ashes was born. A fourth match was then played which Australia won
by 4 wickets but the match was not considered part of the Ashes series.
England would dominate many of these early contests with England
winning the Ashes series 10 times between 1884–98. During this period
England also played their first Test match against South Africa in 1889
at Port Elizabeth.

The 1899 Ashes series was the first tour where the MCC and
the counties appointed a selection committee. There were three active
players: Lord Hawke, W.G. Grace and HW Bainbridge who was the captain
of Warwickshire. Prior to this, England teams for home Tests had been
chosen by the club on whose ground the match was to be played.

The turn of the century saw mixed results for England as they
lost four of the eight Ashes series between 1900 and 1914. During this
period England would lose their first series against South Africa in
the 1905/06 season 4–1 as their batting faltered. The 1912 season saw
England take part in a unique experiment. A nine Test triangular
tournament involving England, South Africa and Australia was set-up.
The series was hampered by a very wet summer and player disputes
however and the tournament was considered a failure with the Daily
Telegraph stating:

“ Nine Tests provide a surfeit of cricket, and contests
between Australia and South Africa are not a great attraction to the
British public. ”

With Australia sending a weakened team and the South African
bowlers being ineffective England dominated the tournament winning four
of their six matches. The Australia v South Africa match, at Lord's,
was notable for a visit by King George V, the first time a reigning
monarch had watched Test cricket. England would go on one more tour
against South Africa before the outbreak of World War I.

Inter-war:

England's first match after the war was in the 1920–21 season
against Australia. Still feeling the effects of the war England went
down to a series of crushing defeats, and suffered their first
whitewash losing the series 5–0. Six Australians scored hundreds while
Mailey spun out 36 English batsmen. Things were no better in the next
few Ashes series losing the 1921 Ashes series 3–0 and the 1924–5 Ashes
4–1. England's fortunes were to change in 1926 as they regained the
Ashes and were a formidable team during this period dispatching
Australia 4–1 in the 1928–29 Ashes tour.

On the same year the West Indies became the fourth nation to
be granted Test status and played their first game against England.
England won each of these three Tests by an innings, and a view was
expressed in the press that their elevation had proved a mistake
although Learie Constantine did the double on the tour. In the 1929–30
season England went on two concurrent tours with one team going to New
Zealand (who were granted Test status earlier that year) and the other
to the West Indies. Despite sending two separate teams England won both
tours beating New Zealand 1–0 and the West Indies 2–1.

Bill Woodfull evades a Bodyline ball. Note the number of
leg-side fielders.The 1930 Ashes series saw a young Don Bradman
dominate the tour, scoring 974 runs in his seven Test innings. He
scored 254 at Lord's, 334 at Headingley and 232 at the Oval. Australia
regained the Ashes winning the series 3–1. As a result of Bradman's
prolific run-scoring the England captain Douglas Jardine chose to
develop the already existing leg theory into fast leg theory, or
bodyline, as a tactic to stop Bradman. Fast leg theory involved bowling
fast balls directly at the batsman's body. The batsman would need to
defend himself, and if he touched the ball with the bat, he risked
being caught by one of a large number of fielders placed on the leg
side.

English cricket team at the test match held at the Brisbane
Exhibition Ground. England won the match by a record margin of 675
runs.Using his fast leg theory England won the next Ashes series 4–1.
But complaints about the Bodyline tactic caused crowd disruption on the
tour, and threats of diplomatic action from the Australian Cricket
Board, which during the tour sent the following cable to the MCC in
London:

“ Bodyline bowling assumed such proportions as to menace best
interests of game, making protection of body by batsmen the main
consideration. Causing intensely bitter feeling between players as well
as injury. In our opinion is unsportsmanlike. Unless stopped at once
likely to upset friendly relations existing between Australia and
England. ”

Later, Jardine was removed from the captaincy and the laws of
cricket changed so that no more than one fast ball aimed at the body
was permitted per over, and having more than two fielders behind square
leg were banned.

England's following tour of India in the 1933–34 season was
the first Test match to be staged in the subcontinent. The series was
also notable for Morris Nichols and Nobby Clark bowling so many
bouncers that the Indian batsman wore solar topees instead of caps to
protect themselves.

Australia won the 1934 Ashes series 2–1 and would keep the
urn for the following 19 years. Many of the wickets of the time were
friendly to batsmen resulting in a large proportion of matches ending
in high scoring draws and many batting records being set.

The 1938–39 tour of South Africa saw another experiment with
the deciding Test being a timeless Test that was played to a finish.
England lead 1–0 going into the final timeless match at Durban. Despite
the final Test being ‘timeless’ the game ended in a draw, after 10 days
as England had to catch the train to catch the boat home. A record 1981
runs were scored, and the concept of timeless Tests was abandoned.
England would go in one final tour of the West Indies in 1939 before
the World War II, although a team for an MCC tour of India was selected
more in hope than expectation of the matches being played.

Post-war:

After World War II, England fell under difficult times
suffering a heavy defeat 3–0 to Australia. This followed by a 4–0 loss
to Bradman's 'invincibles' and a stunning 2–0 loss to the West Indies.
These loses were tempered by victories against India and South Africa.

Their fortunes would change in the 1953 Ashes tour as they
won the series 1–0. England would not lose a series between their
1950–51 and 1958–59 tours of Australia and secured famous victory in
1954–55 thanks to Typhoon Tyson whose 6–85 at Sydney and 7–27 at
Melbourne are remembered as the fastest bowling ever seen in Australia.
The 1956 series was remembered for the bowling of Jim Laker who took 46
wickets at 9.62 which included bowling figures of 19/90 at Old
Trafford. After drawing to South Africa, England defeated the West
Indies and New Zealand comfortably. The England team would then leave
for Australia in the 1958–59 season with a team that had been hailed as
the strongest ever to leave on an Ashes tour but lost the series 4–0 as
Richie Benaud's revitalised Australians were too strong.

The early and middle 1960s were poor periods for English
cricket. Despite England's strength on paper, Australia held the Ashes
and the West Indies dominated England in the early part of the decade.
However, from 1968 to 1971 they played 27 consecutive Test matches
without defeat, winning 9 and drawing 18 (including the abandoned Test
at Melbourne in 1970–71). The sequence began when they drew with
Australia at Lords in the Second Test of the 1968 Ashes series and
ended in 1971 when India won the Third Test at the Oval by 4 wickets.
They played 13 Tests with only one defeat immediately beforehand and so
played a total of 40 consecutive Tests with only one defeat, dating
from their innings victory over the West Indies at The Oval in 1966.
During this period they beat New Zealand, India, the West Indies,
Pakistan and, under Ray Illingworth's determined leadership, regained
the The Ashes from Australia in 1970–71.

1971-2000:

They then suffered a loss of form losing to India and a
rising West Indian side. This culminated in a 4–1 defeat in the 1974–75
Ashes series. The inaugural 1975 Cricket World Cup saw England reach
the semi-finals and was to be the turning point in England's fortunes.
The results of the Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket (WCS) were felt
in Test cricket with Australia and Pakistan losing many of its star
players. England replaced captain Tony Greig, who had joined WCS, with
Mike Brearley while Geoffrey Boycott returned from his Test exile.
England would defeat a divided Australian side 3–0 in the centenary
Ashes series. This was followed by a comfortable 4–0 win against
Pakistan and a World Cup final appearance against the West Indies.

With Ian Botham and Bob Willis at their peak with the ball,
Boycott and Graham Gooch opening the batting, and a young David Gower
in the middle order, England had a promising team whose early results
were encouraging. However, the team's lack of real quality was
evidenced by a string of defeats, some heavy, against West Indies, the
outstanding Test team at the time. England won the 1981 Ashes series
3–1, coming from behind after Brearley, who had retired, was reinstated
as captain. The third Test at Headingley saw England win by 18 runs
after following-on, only the second time in the history of England v
Australia Tests that this has been achieved. After losing the Ashes in
1982–83, England recovered them in 1985 when they comfortably beat a
poor Australian team. But England suffered two series "whitewashes"
against the West Indies in 1984 and on the 1985–86 tour.

A shocked England team never truly recovered from this defeat
and, although they managed to retain the Ashes in 1986–87, they would
only win one further Test series in the 1980s against newcomers Sri
Lanka. Australia meanwhile staged a recovery and easily defeated
England in 1989 to begin a long period of domination.

England continued to decline through the 1990s, a situation
not helped by squabbles between players and selectors. Another reason
for their poor performances were the demands of County Cricket teams on
their players, meaning that England could rarely field a full strength
team on their tours. This would eventually lead to the ECB taking over
the MCC as the governing body of England and the implementation of
central contracts.

There was a string of disappointing results as England did
not win a Test match for two and half years. However, England's
performance in ODI cricket was still good, as they defeated Australia,
the West Indies and South Africa to reach the final of the 1992 Cricket
World Cup. Shortly after the World Cup Mike Atherton replaced Gooch as
England captain but his captaincy was regarded as a failure with
England winning only one Test series under his captaincy. A surprise
win against South Africa in 1998 was England's first five Test series
win since 1986–87, but this would be a false dawn as they were
eliminated in the first round of the 1999 Cricket World Cup (which they
hosted) and lost a home Test series against New Zealand 2–1, resulting
in England being officially ranked as the worst Test nation at the end
of the 20th century.

21st century:

With the appointment of Duncan Fletcher as coach and Nasser
Hussain as captain, England began to rebuild the team. They won four
consecutive Test series which included impressive wins against West
Indies (a first in 32 years) and Pakistan. England were still no match
for Steve Waugh's Australia and lost the 2001 Ashes 4–1. Good results
against India and Sri Lanka gave England some hope for the 2002–03
Ashes series but a 4–1 defeat showed that they were still inferior to
Australia. But that setback did not stop England's resurgence as they
defeated the West Indies 3–0 and followed up with whitewashes against
New Zealand and the West Indies at home. A victory in the first Test
against South Africa at Port Elizabeth meant England had won their
eighth successive Test, their best sequence of Test match wins for 75
years.

In 2005, England under Michael Vaughan's captaincy and aided
by Kevin Pietersen's batting in his maiden series (most notably 158 at
the Oval), and Andrew Flintoff's superb all-round performances,
defeated Australia 2–1 to regain the Ashes for the first time in 18
years.

Following the 2005 Ashes win, the team suffered from a serious
spate of injuries to key players such as Vaughan, Flintoff, Ashley
Giles, Steve Harmison and Simon Jones. As a result, the team underwent
an enforced period of transition.

In the home Test series victory against Pakistan in July and
August 2006, several promising new players emerged. Most notable were
the left-arm orthodox spin bowler Monty Panesar, the first Sikh to play
Test cricket for England; and left-handed opening batsman Alastair
Cook. Meanwhile England's injury problems allowed previously marginal
Test players such as Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell to consolidate their
places in the team.

The 2006–07 Ashes series was keenly anticipated and was
expected to provide a level of competition comparable to the 2005
series. In the event, England, captained by Flintoff, lost all 5 Tests
to concede the first Ashes whitewash in 86 years.

England's form in ODIs had been consistently poor. They only
narrowly avoided the ignominy of having to play in the qualifying
rounds of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy. Despite this, in the ODI
triangular in Australia, England recorded its first ODI tournament win
overseas since 1997. But, in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, England lost
to most of the Test playing nations they faced, beating only the West
Indies and Bangladesh, although they also avoided defeat by any of the
non-Test playing nations. Even so, the unimpressive nature of most of
their victories in the tournament, combined with heavy defeats by New
Zealand, Australia and South Africa, left many commentators criticising
the manner in which the England team approached the one-day game. Coach
Duncan Fletcher resigned after eight years in the job as a result and
was succeeded by former Sussex coach Peter Moores.

Since then, England's Test record has been indifferent and the
team has slumped to fifth in the ICC rankings. There was a convincing
3–0 Test series win over West Indies in 2007 but it was followed in the
second half of the summer by a 1–0 loss to India, although England did
defeat India 4–3 in the LOI series.

In 2007, England toured Sri Lanka and New Zealand, losing the
first series 1–0 and winning the second 2–1. They followed up at home
in May 2007 with a 2–0 win against New Zealand, these results easing
the pressure on Moores, who was not at ease with his team, particularly
Pietersen, who succeeded Vaughan as captain in 2008, after England had
been well beaten by South Africa at home.

The poor relationship between Moores and Pietersen came to a
head in India on the 2008–09 tour. England lost the series 1–0 and both
men resigned their positions, although Pietersen remained a member of
the England team. Against this background, England toured the West
Indies and, in a disappointing performance, lost the Test series 1–0.
Almost immediately, they played West Indies in a home series which they
won 1–0.

The second Twenty20 World Cup was held in England in 2009 but
England suffered an opening day defeat to the Netherlands. They
recovered to defeat both eventual champions Pakistan and reigning
champions India but were then knocked out by West Indies.

This was followed by the 2009 Ashes series which featured the
first Test match played in Wales, at SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff. England
drew that match thanks to a last wicket stand by bowlers James Anderson
and Monty Panesar. They won the Second Test at Lords while the
rain-affected Third Test at Edgbaston was drawn. In the Fourth Test at
Headingley, England suffered one of their worst results for some years
and were heavily beaten by an innings. The series was decided at The
Oval, where England had to win to recover the Ashes. Thanks to fine
bowling by Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann and a debut century by
Jonathan Trott, England won by 177 runs.

After a drawn Test series in South Africa, England won their
first ever ICC tournament, the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. The following
winter, they surprisingly thrashed a very weak Australia 3–1 to retain
the Ashes; their first series win in Australia for 24 years, which
included three innings victories. This victory left England in third
place in the ICC rankings, whilst back-to-back Ashes defeats
contributed to Australia falling from first to fifth.

England struggled to match their Test form in the 2011 ICC
Cricket World Cup. Despite beating South Africa and tying with eventual
winners India, England suffered shock losses to Ireland and Bangladesh.
They scrapped through to the quarter-finals before losing to Sri Lanka
by 10 wickets. However, the team's excellent form in the Test match
arena continued, beating Sri Lanka 1-0 in a rain affected series,
before comfortably whitewashing the Indians 4-0 to become the World
No.1 side.

But this status only lasted a year - having lost 3-0 to Pakistan over
the winter, England were beaten 2-0 by South Africa, who replaced them
at the top of the rankings. It was their first home series loss since
2008, against the same opposition.

This loss saw the resignation of Strauss as captain. His replacement,
Alastair Cook, was already in charge of the ODI side and had previously
captained two Tests. In his first series, Cook led England to a 2-1
victory in India - their first in the country since 1984-85. In doing
so, Cook became the first ever captain to score centuries in his first
five Tests as captained and became England's leading century-maker with
23.

After finishing as runners-up in the ICC Champions Trophy,
England
faced Australia in back-to-back Ashes series. A 3–0 home win secured
England the urn for the fourth time in five series. However, in the
return series, they found themselves utterly demolished in a 5–0
defeat, their second Ashes whitewash in under a decade. Their misery
was compounded by batsman Jonathan Trott leaving the tour early due to
a stress-related illness and the mid-series retirement of spinner
Graeme Swann. Following the tour, head coach Andy Flower resigned his
post whilst batsman Kevin Pietersen was dropped indefinitely from the
England team.

Flower was replaced by his predecessor, Peter Moores, but he
was
sacked for a second time after a string of disappointing results
including failing to advance from the group stage at the 2015 World
Cup. He was replaced by Australian Trevor Bayliss who oversaw an upturn
of form in the ODI side, including series victories against New Zealand
and Pakistan. In the test arena, England reclaimed the Ashes 3–2 in the
summer of 2015.